Back surgery, and particularly the vertebral osteotomy procedure, has heretofore been difficult and cumbersome to perform due to the geometry of the operative site. Specifically, the operative site comprises a spinal cord and a plurality of vertebrae surrounding the spinal cord along its length. In a vertebral osteotomy, facing sides of the bodies of two adjacent vertebrae are trimmed or otherwise cut away. Difficulties are encountered, however, as the bone which is cut away from the vertebral body is located anterior of the spinal cord. It will be appreciated that a surgeon's vision or line of sight is impaired in this type of procedure, since in a vertebral osteotomy the patient lies prone, and this causes the spinal cord to block the view of that portion of the vertebral body which is sought to be cut or trimmed away.
Further complicating the vertebral osteotomy is the fact that a sharpened cutting instrument or chisel, known as an osteotome, must be utilized to cut or otherwise trim away portions of the bony vertebral body. However, such trimming and cutting takes place in the vicinity of the delicate spinal cord, which lies in a canal formed by the vertebral bodies, pedicles, and laminae.